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Select Board approves National Grid pole and transformer for 21.5 kW residential solar on Ames Road
Summary
After a continued public hearing, the Select Board voted to grant a pole permit for a 21.5-kilowatt residential solar installation on Ames Road. National Grid said engineering rules require the transformer be sited about 225 feet from the service; the board asked the company to follow up on double-pole inventory and remediation.
The Select Board voted to grant a pole permit for a transformer to serve a 21.5-kilowatt home solar system on Ames Road after a continued, advertised public hearing. Chair (S1) said the board had reopened the hearing to hear updated information from the petitioner and National Grid’s design team.
National Grid representative Sherry Diane Cloud (National Grid) told the board the system is larger than a typical home installation and that distribution-design calculations require the transformer to sit roughly 225 feet from the customer’s service to maintain quality voltage. She said an existing nearby pole has an underground primary riser and therefore cannot accept a transformer; the company proposed adding a new pole sited in the town right-of-way on the owner’s frontage so separation and line-work needs are met.
Neighbors and board members asked whether the panels are roof- or ground-mounted, whether work would require outages, and whether wetlands rules apply. Cloud said she had not been provided the installer’s mounting details and that standard live-line splicing techniques usually let crews avoid planned outages; she also said the proposed pole is in the public right-of-way near the owner’s frontage and that, in her view, adjacent curb-cut location generally reduces wetland concerns.
After additional operational questions and a request that National Grid check the company’s double-pole inventory and confirm specific addresses in its asset system, the Chair entertained a motion to grant the pole permit. A motion and second were recorded and the board approved the permit by voice vote.
The board asked National Grid to follow up with specific inventory and remediation information and to confirm whether any neighboring poles could be modified to avoid a new pole; Cloud said she would relay those requests to the designer and distribution team.
The permit decision is limited to the pole siting and associated utility work described in the hearing; any separate local permitting (for ground-mounted panels or other site work) remains the responsibility of the property owner and building-inspection authorities.
